Noise dampening - advice needed

[stuart2k10]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to the site but hope some of you can help.

I have got to lay stone paving slabs (approx. 300 x 600 mm) in a carriageway (now pedestrian only) that passes through a building into a courtyard. The archway that encloses the carriageway is approx. W2.6 x H3 x D5 m. It’s very echo-y and the building is 19th century (single skin red brick walls; lathe & plaster ceiling) and so not good at keeping the sound out.

I’d like to find ways to minimize the sound of footfall on the pavers through dampening the pavers themselves. Any advice would be really appreciated.

Note:
Beyond having to use York stone and the given slab size, there are no restrictions on the materials used.
There is no budget to insulate the walls or ceiling.
We will put large plants / pots in the archway to dampen the echo effect.

Thank you.

[lutonlagerlout]

beetlecrusher shoes

barring that plenty of vegetation to damp the noise

I have lived above an archway like this and the best way is to insulate the floor above with rockwool and sound board

LLL

[Tony McC]

The traditional solution to this problem was to use wooden pavers - have a look at the entrance archway to Trinity College Dublin if you ever get the chance

[stuart2k10]

Thank you for the wooden paver tip.

Any advice about specie or suppliers - I'm not big on timber.

Thanks.

[lutonlagerlout]

as far as I am aware you will not be able to get wooden pavers today, and we are talking the noise from horseshoes

in your situation I feel insulating the ceiling/floor above will work best
LLL

[Tony McC]

They still use wooden pavers in Baltic states, apparently, but I've not seen any in Britain that are post-war.

I did see some in Argentina that were only a few years old, but it was more of a decorative installation rather than functional.

I think the ones at Trinity College are Elm or Ash, so even if you were to have them made, they'd cost maybe 10 times the price of a concrete block.

Now that I think about it, there was a Canadian bloke with a little factory in East Angular who was producing interlocking crumb rubber blocks for use in Golf Clubs (???) and Athletics tracks where they's withstand the trampling of spikey shoes....I'll see if I can find contact details......

[stuart2k10]

Thanks Tony and Lutonlargerlout. I appreciate you taking the time.
Besides cost, wooden pavers might fall foul of Conservation.

Would changing the material stone pavers sit on (other than sand) make any difference?